A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir posted the hearing on the plea for July 13. The Centre had on February 20 notified final award of the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal, six years after the order was passed by the tribunal.

As per the law, Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee are to be be constituted which will have representatives from all the co-basin states, experts in hydrology and agriculture. They will be headed by an officer of the central government and will be under the control of the Centre.
The tribunal, comprising chairman Justice N P Singh and members N S Rao and Sudhir Narain, in a unanimous award in February 2007 had determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin at 740 TMC feet at the Lower Coleroon Anicut site.
The proceedings of the tribunal, set up in June 1990, went on for more than 16 years. In what was then described as a balancing act, the tribunal gave Tamil Nadu 419 tmc of water (as against the demand of 562 tmc); Karnataka 270 tmc (as against its demand of 465 tmc); Kerala 30 tmc and Puducherry 7 tmc. For environmental protection, it had reserved 10 tmc.